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Thera 12.2: Sunita
Tipitaka >> Sutta Pitaka >> Khuddaka Nikaya >> Theragatha >> Thera(242):Sunita Adapted from the Archaic Translation by Mrs. C.A.F. Rhys Davids. Note: 'C' in Pali text is pronounced as 'ch' as in 'China'. ---- Chapter XII. Poems of Twelve Verses =242. Sunīta= Reborn in this Buddha-age as one of a family of flower-scavengers,1 he earned his living as a road-sweeper, not making enough to still his hunger. Now in the first watch of the night the Exalted One(Buddha), attaining that mood of great pity so largely practised by Buddhus, surveyed the world. And he marked the conditions of arahantship(enlightenment) in the heart of Sunīta, shining like a lamp within a jar. And when the night paled into dawn he rose and dressed, and with bowl and robe, followed by his bhikkhu(monk) train, walked to Rājagaha for alms, and sought the street where Sunīta was cleaning. Now Sunīta was collecting scraps, rubbish, and so on into heaps, and filling after that the baskets he carried on a yoke. And when he saw the Lord(Buddha) and his train approaching, his heart was filled with joy and awe. Finding no place to hide in on the road, he placed his yoke 272 in a bend of the wall, and stood as if stuck to the wall saluting with clasped hands. Then the Lord(Buddha), when he had come near, spoke to him in voice divinely sweet, saying: 'Sunīta! what to you is that wretched mode of living? Can you endure to leave the world(for monkhood)?' And Sunīta, experiencing the rapture of one who has been sprinkled by ambrosia, said: 'If even such as I, Exalted One(Buddha), may in this life take monk’s orders, why should I not? May the Exalted One make me to come forth.' Then the Lord(Buddha) said: 'Come, bhikkhu!' And he, by that word receiving sanction and initiation into monkhood, was by magic power invested with bowl and robes. The Lord(Buddha), leading him to the Vihāra(monastery), taught him an exercise, and he won first the eight attainments2 and fivefold abhinna(higher knowledge); then developing insight, the sixth. And Sakka(king of gods) and the Brahmā gods(archangels) came and did homage to him, as it is written: ---- Those deities seven hundred, glorious, Brahmas(Archangels) and Indra's following drew near And gladly paid Sunīta homage due, As high-bred victor over age and death.3 ---- The Exalted One(Buddha) saw him surrounded by gods, and smiled and commended him, teaching the Path(Dhamma) by the verse: ---- 'By discipline of holy life(celibacy)! ...4 ---- Now many bhikkhus(monks), desirous of raising their 'lion's roar,' asked Sunīta: 'From what family did you come forth? Or why did you leave the world(for monkhood)? And how did you penetrate the truths?' Then Sunlta told them the whole matter thus: ---- 620 Nīce kulamhi jāto'haɱ daḷiddo appabhojano,|| Hīnakammaɱ mamaɱ āsi ahosi pupphachaḍḍako.|| || 621 Jigucchito panussānaɱ paribhūto ca vamhito,|| Nīcaɱ manaɱ karitvāna vandisaɱ1 bahukaɱ janaɱ.|| || 622 Athaddasāsiɱ 64 sambuddhaɱ bhikkhusaŋghapurakkhataɱ,|| Pavisantaɱ mahāvīraɱ magadhānaɱ puruttamaɱ.|| || 623 Nikkhipitvāna vyābhaŋgiɱ vandituɱ upasaŋkamiɱ,|| Mameva anukampāya aṭṭhāsi purisuttamo.|| || 624 Manditvā satthuno pāde ekamantaɱ ṭhito tadā,|| Pabbajjaɱ ahamāyāciɱ sabbasattānamuttamaɱ.|| || 625 Tato kāruṇiko satthā sabbalokānukampako,|| Ehi bhikkhūti maɱ āha sā me āsūpasampadā.|| || 626 So'haɱ eko araññasmiɱ viharanto atandito,|| Akāsiɱ satthu vacanaɱ yathā maɱ ovadī jino.|| || 627 Rattiyā paṭhamaɱ yāmaɱ pubbajātimanussariɱ,|| Rattiyā majjhamaɱ yāmaɱ dibbacakkhuɱ visodhayiɱ,|| Rattiyā pacchime yāme tamekhandhaɱ padālayiɱ.|| || 628 Tato ratyā vivasane suriyassuggamanaɱ pati,|| Indo brahmā ca āgantvā maɱ namassiɱsu pañjilī.|| || 629 Namo te purisājañña namo te purisuttama,|| Yassa te āsavā khīṇā dakkhiṇeyyosi mārisa.|| || 630 Tato disvāna maɱ satthā devasaŋghapurakkhataɱ,|| Sitaɱ pātukaritvāna imamatthaɱ abhāsatha.|| || 631 Tapena brahmacariyena saññamena damena ca,|| Etena brāhmaṇo hoti etaɱ brāhmaṇamuttama, nti.|| || ---- 620 Humble the clan in which I took my birth, And poor was I and scanty was my lot; Mean task was mine, a scavenger of flowers. 621 One for whom no man cared, despised, abused, My mind I humbled and I bent the head In deference to a goodly tale of folk. 622 And then I saw the All-Eulightened come, Begirt and followed by his bhikkhu-train, Great Champion ent'ring Magadha's chief town. 623 I laid aside my baskets and my yoke, And came where I might due obeisance make, And of his lovingkindness just for me, The Chief of men halted upon his way. 624 Low at his feet I bent, then standing by, I begged the Lord(Buddha)'s leave to join the Rule And follow him, of every creature Chief. 625 Then he whose tender mercy watchs all The world, the Lord(Buddha) pitiful and kind, Gave me my answer: Come, bhikkhu! he said. By that to me was initiation into monkhood given.5 626 Lo! I alone in forest depths abode, With zeal unfaltering did as per the Lord(Buddha)'s word, Even the advices of the Conqueror. 627 While passed the first watch of the night there rose Long memories of the bygone line of lives. While passed the middle watch, the heav'nly eye, Purview celestial, was clarified. While passed the last watch of the night, I burst Asunder all the gloom of ignorance.6 628 Then as the night wore down at dawn And rose the sun, came Indra and Brahmā, Yielding me homage with their clasped hands: 629 Hail unto you, you nobly born of men! Hail unto you, you highest among men! Perished for you are all the intoxicants(defilements/desires); And you are worthy, noble sir, of gifts. 630 The Lord(Buddha), seeing me by troop of gods Begirt and followed, upon that a smile Revealing, by this utterance made response: 631 'By discipline of holy life(celibacy), restraint And mastery of self: by this a man Is holy; this is holiness supreme!'7 ---- 1 I.e., removers of cut flowers, wreaths, etc., thrown aside. This was a 'low' hereditary trade. 2 Cf. Bud. Psy., 846, n. 3; Compendium, p. 133, n. 3 (read part IX., Ī 11, for XI., Ī 12. The five Jhānas are often taken as four). The sixth abhiññā(higher knowledge) is abolition of the Āsavas = arahantship(enlightenment). 3 Cf. Sisters, p. 146, verse 365. These lines are not quoted as from the Apadāna. The spiritual breeding, transmitted from the past, is doubtless emphasized in aesthetic and ethical contrast with the sordid circumstances of his last span of life. 4 Verse 681. 5 Cf. above, Bhadda, CCXXVI.; Sisters, verse 109 6 Nearly identioal with Sisters, verses 172, 173. 7 I.e., says the Commentary, supreme brahminhood (brahmaññaɱ), "not caste and the like, and quotes Dhammapada, verses 58, 59: As on a rubbish-heap on highway thrown A lily there may grow, fragrant and sweet, So among rubbish-creatures, blind worldly people By insight shines the Very Buddha's child. 'Holy life(celibacy),' 'holy,' 'holiness,' are in the Pali brahmacariyaɱ, brāhmaṇo, brāhmaṇaɱ. Celestial tribute evokes a smile from a great Thera in Ps. CCLXI., verse 1086. One is tempted to think it was because of the humorous element in the situation-the man become as god - and not from complacency alone. ----